Polygon (MATIC) hovers near key level ahead of Etrog upgrade

• Polygon (MATIC) traded near $0.78 on Monday as the Ethereum scaling solution moved closer to its Etrog upgrade.
• MATIC could breakout to above $1 if bulls hold key level, or likely retest the important support zone at $0.5.

Polygon (MATIC) price was trading near $0.78 on Monday as the Ethereum scaling solution moved closer to its Etrog mainnet upgrade.

The altcoin, which rose to above $0.79 amid a 20% spike in trading volume, was among the few cryptocurrencies in the top 20 by market cap to hover flat as Bitcoin retreated below $43k to mirror US stock declines.

MATIC outlook as Polygon eyes Etrog upgrade

Last month, Polygon Foundation announced a 10-day countdown to the activation of the Etrog upgrade on mainnet. 

As noted in a blog post, the upgrade is for Polygon zkEVM and is set to bring support for pre-compiled smart contracts. The release is expected to transform the zkEVM closer to a Type 2 ZK-EVM, – that is, an EVM-equivalent ZK rollup.

With the upgrade, developers can deploy their code on Polygon zkEVM just as they would on Ethereum. According to the Polygon Foundation, devs only need to “copy-paste and go, no modifications necessary.”

The next upgrade for Polygon zkEVM will, effectively, make the network a Type 2 ZK-EVM. What does that mean for developers? It means that you can deploy your code on Polygon zkEVM exactly as it is on Ethereum—just copy-paste and go, no modifications necessary.

The 10-day… pic.twitter.com/GThNxj7V6F

— Polygon Foundation (@0xPolygonFdn) January 27, 2024

The 10-day countdown for the upgrade means the expected mainnet release is on Tuesday, February 6.

Ahead of this milestone, MATIC price rose from an intraday low of $0.76 to $0.79 before retesting the support area amid today’s broader crypto lull.

If a breakout materializes in coming days and weeks, the Polygon token could target an extended run above the psychological $1 level. A breakdown however could push MATIC/USD to the 2023 support base around $0.5.